Details

ISBN-10: 1982168595
ISBN-13: 9781982168599
Publisher: Atria Books
Publish Date: 01/10/2023
Dimensions: 9.60" L, 6.20" W, 1.40" H

The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland

Hardcover

Price: $30.00

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE

From the Polk Award-winning investigative duo comes a critical look at the systematic corruption and brutality within the Oakland Police Department, and the more than two-decades-long saga of attempted reforms and explosive scandals.

No municipality has been under court oversight to reform its police department as long as the city of Oakland. It is, quite simply, the edge case in American law enforcement.

The Riders Come Out at Night is the culmination of over twenty-one years of fearless reporting. Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham shine a light on the jackbooted police culture, lack of political will, and misguided leadership that have conspired to stymie meaningful reform. The authors trace the history of Oakland since its inception through the lens of the city’s police department, through the Palmer Raids, McCarthyism, and the Civil Rights struggle, the Black Panthers and crack eras, to Oakland’s present-day revival.

Readers will be introduced to a group of sadistic cops known as “The Riders,” whose disregard for the oath they took to protect and serve is on full, tragic, infuriating display. They will also meet Keith Batt, a wide-eyed rookie cop turned whistleblower, who was unwittingly partnered with the leader of the Riders. Other compelling characters include Jim Chanin and John Burris, two civil rights attorneys determined to see reform through, in spite of all obstacles. And Oakland’s deep history of law enforcement corruption, reactionary politics, and social movement organizing is retold through historical figures like Black Panther Huey Newton, drug kingpin Felix Mitchell, district attorney and future Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, and Mayor Jerry Brown.

The Riders Come Out at Night is the story of one city and its police department, but it’s also the story of American policing–and where it’s headed.

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Reviews
"A culture of corruption and violence keeps flourishing despite repeated good faith efforts to stop the bad apples, who continue to show up, generation after generation, to spoil the barrel. And yet the authors make a case for civilian oversight by presenting civilians–civil rights lawyers, community activists, grieving parents of those killed by police–as the heroes of their stories. Winston and BondGraham treat episodes with a granularity that is a strength of the book. The opportunism and hypocrisy are often galling if not surprising, but the authors break newer ground by chronicling what happened after the [federal] monitor came in. Every city contemplating the future of its police force could use a book like this."
–The New York Times Book Review
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Details

ISBN-10: 1982168595
ISBN-13: 9781982168599
Publisher: Atria Books
Publish Date: 01/10/2023
Dimensions: 9.60" L, 6.20" W, 1.40" H
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